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9 Dec 2009 14:11
9 December 2009
Merchant House Group PLC ("Merchant House" or the "Company")
Trading update and investment management permissions
Merchant House, the evolving financial services business is pleased to update shareholders on progress in the two new divisions:
Foreign Exchange Proprietary Trading has commenced with a trading facility provided by a major global clearer and results are ahead of budget with nominal trading values now regularly exceeding US$5 billion per day and capacity is projected to grow significantly over the next six months. The business is effectively structured as a joint venture with the management team, who take a majority of the fees and in addition there is no settlement risk on the Group itself. Merchant Capital, our wholly owned Financial Services Authority ("FSA") authorised subsidiary, is now receiving net fee contributions.
Merchant Capital has been granted authorisation by the FSA to act as Investment Managers, with permission to manage funds on a discretionary or advisory basis for professional clients. Merchant Capital can control but not hold client funds. Subject to permission from the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority, Merchant will establish a Dublin based UCITS III umbrella fund, a regulatory standard of a European Directive designed specifically for hedge funds. The purpose of the directive is to establish a European wide framework for all hedge funds sold within the member states. Merchant Capital, on behalf of its new UCITS investment business has filed paperwork with the Dublin authorities to become the financial promoter of a UCITS umbrella fund. The first such fund, based in Spain has signed up subject only to approval from the Dublin authorities. This status will assist greatly in current discussions with customers over the launch of six UCITS propositions.
Christopher Day, Managing Director of the Merchant Asset Management division said, "the granting of the investment management permission from the FSA is a very significant development for Merchant and will now give focus to the ongoing discussions with a number of funds."
Martin Eberhardt, Chairman commented "The Merchant strategy of attracting individuals and teams out of much larger banks and international houses with a view to incentivising them heavily is beginning to bear fruit in the successful first steps of these two divisions."
Enquiries:
Merchant House Group Plc
James Holmes
Tel: 020 7332 2200
Shore Capital and Corporate Limited
Pascal Keane
Tel: 020 7408 4090
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